


i got a headache that won't quit though

by oonaseckar



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Illnesses, M/M, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22800145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oonaseckar/pseuds/oonaseckar
Summary: Telepathy is dangerous, and Charles was always dying.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Hank McCoy & Charles Xavier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	i got a headache that won't quit though

**Author's Note:**

> The work and chapter titles are Henry Rollins.

There's something up with the Professor. It takes him a while to work it out. 

Telepathy is _dangerous_. That's the conclusion Hank comes to.

It opens up aneurysms. This is what Hank discovers, after all the fun with Cerebro, when he finds Charles collapsed on the bathroom floor, unconscious, barely breathing. They do a scan: Charles refuses, Hank insists, Charles refuses, Hank drags him and he's too weak to fight.

But Charles already knows. He isn't a bit surprised, when Hank breaks the news, choking on it. The thing is: you can't switch telepathy _off_.

So Hank knows, but keeps his mouth shut. Charles makes him promise. Because the cause is so _important_ , you see.

Hank is _excellent_ at keeping secrets, cf. his furry goddamn feet, buddy. Much more than this idiot, Xavier. This particular secret, it makes him furious. He wants to run around the mansion shouting about it.

But he forgives quickly, for several reasons. One, Xavier, and his surly companion, can offer him the kind of understanding and companionship he's always been too smart to hope for.

Two, Xavier's _sister_. And that's as far as Hank gets in expressing that thought, even to himself.

Three, Xavier needs him. Part of Hank's mutation, one he doesn't advertise, is being able to literally sniff out biological adaptations and oddities. Terrific, for the crusading act of idiocy they're all engaged in. Plus he's a giver, a supporter, and someone Charles can discuss the science of mutation with. And _not_ talk about death, and the risks of telepathy with. No, Charles shuts him up right quick, on that, every time now.

***

He should have known. In the end, Erik had good control of the bullets. It was Charles who staggered. And then died.


End file.
